Lewis Carrol discussion

Discuss!

Lewis Carroll himself got bugged about this so much that he was moved to write the following in the preface to the 1896 edition of his book:

Enquiries have been so often addressed to me, as to whether any answer to the Hatter's Riddle can be imagined, that I may as well put on record here what seems to me to be a fairly appropriate answer, viz: 'Because it can produce a few notes, tho they are very flat; and it is never put with the wrong end in front!' This, however, is merely an afterthought; the Riddle, as originally invented, had no answer at all.

Did this discourage people? No. They figured, that dope Carroll, he's too dumb to figure out his own riddle, setting aside the halfhearted attempt just quoted. So they ventured answers of their own, some of the more notable of which are recorded in Martin Gardner's The Annotated Alice and More Annotated Alice:

* Because the notes for which they are noted are not noted for being musical notes. (Puzzle maven Sam Loyd, 1914)
* Because Poe wrote on both. (Loyd again)
* Because there is a B in both and an N in neither. (Get it? Aldous Huxley, 1928)
* Because it slopes with a flap. (Cyril Pearson, undated)

Not bad for amateurs. But the real answer, to which the careers of Poe and Carroll bear ample testimony, is that you can baffle the billions with both.

Postscript: In 1976 Carroll admirer Denis Crutch pointed out that in the 1896 preface quoted above, the author had originally written: "It is nevar put with the wrong end in front." Nevar of course is raven spelled backward. Big joke! However, said joke didn't survive the ministrations of the proofreaders, who, thinking they understood the author's intentions better than the author, changed nevar to never in subsequent editions. The indignities we authors suffer! Sure, we make up for it in money and groupies, but still, if in some book (e.g., one of mine) you come across a line that really clanks, be assured: It was funny before.

OMG BECAUSE EDGAR ALLEN POE WROTE ON BOTH!!!!

*MIND BLOWN*

Anna wrote: "Lewis Carroll himself got bugged about this so much that he was moved to write the following in the preface to the 1896 edition of his book:

Enquiries have been so often addressed to me, as to..."
Those are great ideas on the answer! I love the Edgar Allen Poe one! I always speculated that maybe it was because a raven and a writing desk both have feathers on them(a quill pen, in the case of the writing desk).

the answer is....becaws they both can have caws for thoughts,,,a raven thinks in caws and a desk gives cause for thought,,,,

Didn’t even know this was a riddle til today. After I googled the riddle. I gotta say, I really didn’t like the flat tunes and anti-backwards solution. Felt like it was a forced solution that took 100++ years to glue together. And this post is a hailMary. I’m sure some1 put this online already somewhere. If you did. Kudos 2u Prolly shouldn’t have put my real name on this site. Bit nervous...sorry.
But here goes. A more simplistic n poetic solution(s) to this word problem by B. Y. K. 29-yr old Ukra-Merican is/are:

{ Cuz they both could be symbolized/portrayed as harbingers of Death.} AKA they both could deliver a message of Doom n Death.
Or
(They both can foreshadow/prophesize ones Destiny of Demise)
Or the opposite
[They both can encourage/inspire one to Strive to Survive. ]
Or
=They both can be tools of communication=
Or my solutions are too broad to be taken seriously is a more plausible solution.

However, I know that a Raven and/or Crow symbolizes Death n Decay if not by all existing and/or extinct cultures on this 🌏, then surely by most. ... I know. Run-on... sue me 🤑.

If what I’ve said already been said by someone in the past. Plz don’t sue me for copyright stuff. I accidentally stumbled onto the riddle today. And didn’t have time to spend hours googling. So if sone1 already said something similar. Than kudos 2u. I like this angle of the solution for it is much more dark n Poe-like.

There is almost an infinite ways to say this. And even more potential solution yet to be discovered. ✌️
Peace n Namaste
~Bo🐠